Lover Dearest
by aedy
Summary: Jack has been back just for a little while after leaving the team at the end of Season 1. But now, the Doctor has decided to come back and take back something that was his.
1. I Wish We Could Stay Here Forever Alone

**Title**: _Lover Dearest_  
**Fandom**: Torchwood  
**Pairings**: Ianto/Jack, Ianto/10th Doctor **past**: Ianto/9th Doctor  
**Characters**: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, 10th Doctor  
**Rating**: PG  
**Genre**: Slash, Season 2 Alternative Universe  
**Summary**: _Jack has been back just for a little while after leaving the team at the end of Season 1. But now, the Doctor has decided to come back and take back something that was his. _  
**Author's Notes**: This is some sort of Season 2 Alternative Universe in which Tosh and Owen will never die and which there's more to Ianto's past than being a Torchwood 1 employee. The title of the song, it's from the beautiful Marianas Trench's "_Lover Dearest_". This is the first fan fic I write about this pairing and I hope you will like it!  
**Beta**: Carol

* * *

As soon as he stepped outside the TARDIS, the Doctor started having second thoughts.  
It had been five years since he had last seen_ him_ and the Time Lord wasn't sure if the man would welcome him or not.

He glanced across the Plass, towards where he had dropped off Jack last time and waited until he finally saw the Immortal walking out of the Tourist Office.

He was walking with a brunette, laughing with her, but it didn't take long for him to notice the Doctor.

Jack stopped in his tracks and Gwen frowned looking at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," the man answered shaking his head. "Come with me." He started in the direction of the Time Lord and Gwen couldn't do anything else but follow him.

When they were standing in front of the man who was dressed in a blue suit, brown coat and white Converse, something told the woman exactly who he was and when she turned her attention back on the Captain, the little smile he was wearing, was the final proof she needed.

"Hello," the alien told her waving his hand with a smile, "I'm the Doctor."

"Gwen Cooper," Jack said before she had a chance to.

"I finally decided to take you upon that offer to meet your marvelous team, Jack. Is this a bad time?"

"No, we were just going out on our daily round."

Gwen frowned at hearing that because they had gone out to go investigate a suspiciously mutilated body that was surely more important than having the Doctor meet the team.

And suddenly, all the anger from when Jack had left last time, came back to her when she finally understood that nothing would ever change and that Jack would always leave with the Doctor if given the chance.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the Captain saying "C'mon, this way," and found herself once again following the man in silence.

"So, who's traveling with you now?" the immortal asked the alien.

"No one. I didn't want a new companion right away."

"I understand," said Jack pushing open the door to the Tourist Office. He briefly looked around before shaking his head. "Ianto must still be down arguing with Owen about having recovered enough to come with us out on the field."

Gwen barely nodded; her eyes were still focused on the Doctor and she couldn't help but notice when he frowned at the mention of Ianto being hurt.

Jack pushed the button behind the desk and the secret door in the wall opened and they quickly made their way down into the Hub in time to see Tosh coming up from the Med Bay shaking her head while walking over to her computer station.

Before either of them could say anything, they heard a loud crash and then Owen shouting, "See, you can't even hit me with a bowl because of your ribs! How can you ask me to send you out on the field?"

"I could always try to shoot you again," Ianto yelled back before heavy footsteps announced that he was coming into the main Hub.

"Sorry Tosh, that…" he stopped abruptly when he saw who was with Gwen and Jack.

It was just a second, a mere slip of the façade Ianto wears everyday before his mask was back in place. "Owen is just stubborn," he finished as though he had never stopped and then nodded in the Captain direction. "See you brought a guest, Sir."

His tone was colder than Gwen ever remembered hearing but Jack didn't seem to notice anything strange in Ianto's behavior as he walked over to the young man and slid an arm around his shoulders to bring him in and kiss him briefly.

"You know you shouldn't call me that in public anymore, Ianto," he whispered loud enough only for Ianto to hear. "Ianto Jones, let me introduce you to the Doctor," the Captain said beaming and Gwen asked herself how he could not notice the way the Welshman had tensed up at the kiss because she had noticed it from standing on the other side of the room just like she had seen the Doctor's fingers close into tight fists at the same time.

Whatever anyone of them had expected from that meeting, it didn't happen as Ianto just crossed the Hub and extended his hand towards the Time Lord. "Sir, it's a pleasure," he simply said and he barely shook the hand the Doctor extended to him before disappearing down into the archives muttering something about unfinished business he needed to take care of.

"Well, he's a bit shy sometimes," Jack commented, "but also very brilliant," he said fondly and the alien nodded. "Tosh!" the Captain called loudly and the woman spun around on her chair and flushed.

"Oh sorry, I didn't hear you. I'm working on a new program for… Doctor!" she exclaimed happily before walking over to him and hugging him. "I am so happy to see you again even though last time you were a bit different. I have to say that you're recognizable no matter what form you're in."

"Miss Sato, it's always a pleasure." The Doctor said finally smiling again. "Yeah, I've been in a couple of situations after our meeting that brought me very close to death," he said still smiling and Gwen wondered just how crazy that man had to be.

"OWEN!" Jack yelled in the direction of the med bay, "GET YOUR ASS HERE

They heard footsteps and Owen walked in the Main Hub slipping off his gloves. "That bloody tea-boy won't understand that he can't run and fight while just breathing still hurts. But oh no, he won't listen. Who am I after all if not just the bloody doctor? And you can't make me change my mind Harkness…" He stopped shaking his head before looking at the Doctor frowning. "Who the hell is that?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "This is **the** Doctor, Owen. My Doctor."

"Oh, the bloke you left us for last time?" he just said before turning around and walking back down into the med bay.

"Well," the Captain said turning around to face the Time Lord, "that's Owen Harper for you. He's a bit insensitive from time to time."

The Doctor barely nodded before glancing in the direction of the archives. Jack seemed to catch that and rubbed his hands together before saying, "Well, I imagine you'd like to see what we have here and all that stuff. I can show you some things but it's probably best if I left you in Ianto's capable hands. Unfortunately, when he gets down there he's impossible to find. I swear that boy has the ability to disappear between boxes and papers. I bet he'd have fun in the TARDIS. Anyway, what do you say I show you around a bit and then you we could go trying to find Ianto?"

The Time Lord nodded and plastered on a little smile before following Jack towards the cells.

* * *

When Tosh and Owen had finally left for the night and Gwen was on her way, Ianto still had to come up from the archives. Jack had said that maybe he was just disappointed that Owen wouldn't let him back out on the field and wanted to be alone and that if the young man didn't want to be find, he knew how to hide down there.

However, he promised the Doctor that he could spend the next day with Ianto; then he had left to escort the Time Lord to his spaceship.

Gwen had just retrieved her bag when Ianto finally came up from the archives. He looked around the Hub and caught the woman's gaze.

"They left?"

Gwen smiled softly, "I bet you wouldn't be up here if you didn't already know that. The CCTV is down in the archives too, Ianto."

"Yeah," he gave her a faint smile and walked over to the coffee machine. "You want something?" he asked before starting to clean it up.

"No," she shook her head. "I'm heading home. Jack should be back in a little while." She sighed and looked straight at him even though the man had his back to her. "Ianto, are you all right?"

"Yes, sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

She walked closer to Ianto and put her hand softly on his shoulder and he stopped what he was doing but still didn't turn around.

"Maybe because that was the man he left us for, because we seem to disappear whenever he's involved and…" she cleared her throat before continuing, "I've read some reports from Canary Wharf and they stated that the Doctor was there."

Ianto managed to shrug before saying, "it was a long time ago. I am just a little angry with Owen that's all. I don't care about that Doctor or what he's doing back."

"Ianto…"

The young man turned around and smiled down at Gwen, "Go home, I'm sure Rhys is waiting for you."

She didn't move for several seconds, begging with her eyes for Ianto to open up but in the end she just sighed and nodded. "Okay, if that's what you want. Just know that if you need to talk, I am here, okay?"

Ianto smiled again and this time it seemed real. "You know, you truly brought a human side to this mess. Thanks for that."

Gwen chuckled and waved to him goodnight before leaving the Hub.

It wasn't long after that that Jack came back. He looked around until he spotted Ianto and walked over to the man hugging him from behind. "You okay?" he whispered in the Welshman's ear.

Ianto nodded and turned around giving Jack the ghost of a kiss before moving away to start tiding up the Hub.

"You know, I am sure Owen wouldn't approve of you going around lifting things and…"

"I don't care what he thinks. I've told him that I am ok but he doesn't want to listen to me."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Ianto, he's your doctor, and he may be a moron most of the time, but he takes his job seriously. Plus, you were kicked and shot, and you're just been back after two months at home. I guess he has every right to be uncertain about you getting right back into field work."

Ianto sighed and tried to hide his discomfort when his ribs protested in pain. "I'm fine."

"Your ribs are still sore." The Captain walked over to him and caressed his cheek. "Why don't you go home? If you want I can give you ride, what do you say?"

The younger man chuckled, "I think that if you were to give me a ride home, I wouldn't be resting any time soon."

Jack smirked and nodded, "Probably right. So, let me call you a cab?"

"I will just walk. It's barely Autumn, I think I won't freeze to death."

"Ok," the immortal framed the man's face with his hands and kissed him long and sweetly, biting softly on his lower lip before stepping back. "You better go now. It's been way too long since the last time and I may just jump you."

Ianto chuckled before giving him one last kiss and then leave. Jack watched his retrieving back with a fond smile on his face.

* * *

It was cold outside the tourist office and when Ianto breathed out, a little white cloud left his mouth. He glanced across the Plass before starting to walk in the direction of his apartment only to stop after a couple of steps. He looked towards the opposite direction and sighed.

Obviously he couldn't see the TARDIS but he had spent so long on that spaceship that he could tell where she was. He found himself standing outside the blue box before really thinking about what he was doing,_ if _he was really going in there.

He hesitated just a moment before knocking on the blue wooden doors that swung open after the fraction of a second. He walked inside, the doors closing on their own behind him.

"I thought you were going to give me the cold shoulder for all of my visit," the Time Lord said walking into the main section of the TARDIS and spotting Ianto standing over the control panel.

Ianto shrugged. "What are you doing here?" his voice was barely audible but the Doctor could hear it loudly across the room.

He saw the way in which the man's gentle fingers were stroking the console and could almost hear the TARDIS humming in appreciation while his own hearts started beating a little bit faster at having the man back home.

The Doctor walked closer to the young man and resisted the urge to reach out and touch that soft pale skin but he didn't have to restrain himself long as Ianto spun around and framed the Time Lord's face in his hands before bringing their mouths together with no hesitation whatsoever.

The kiss was slow, intense, filled with passion, longing and loving and felt like the most right thing in the world, like belonging again.

It went on and on until finally, having to breath, Ianto had to pull back but his lips remained a breath away from the other man's and against that mouth that he thought he lost in time, he murmured that name that had once been whispered in his ear and that had never been forgotten.

Then Ianto stepped back, untangled the hands the Time Lord still had in his hair and without giving the Doctor time to react, he walked out of the TARDIS and back into Cardiff's cold night.

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think of this first chapter don't just add the story to your favourite/allert please!


	2. It's So Easy to Come Back into You

Jack's hand moved up and down Ianto's back tracing every muscle that kept tensing and relaxing under his touch.

After a moment he sighed exasperated and rolled on his back. "Yan?" When no answer came from the younger man, the Captain turned around until he was laying half on top of Ianto's back and rested his chin on his lover's shoulder. "So, I told Gwen to dump Rhys so we could leave the city and go be happy elsewhere."

Ianto rolled on his back and Jack fell between his legs. "I am listening to you."

"It didn't look like it." The Immortal sighed and let his fingers sink through the short soft hair of his lover. "Tell me why you came in at the break of the dawn? That's early even for you."

"Couldn't sleep," Ianto pushed his hips up and taking the Captain by surprise, rolled him under.

Jack chuckled, "And here I thought you were missing me."

The Welshman smiled softly before lowering his head down to kiss the Immortal's lips.

At first it was just a peck, the young man's intent to make it brief, however, was shattered when Jack put his hand on the back of his lover neck to keep him from pulling back.

Ianto felt Jack's tongue tracing his lips before gently pushing inside whilst the hand he still had in the Captain's hair, tightened his grip and they both moaned into the kiss.

The archivist pulled back a little to breath, panting, "Are you going to leave?"

Jack frowned, honest confusion crossing his features. "What do you mean?"

Ianto pushed his groin into the Immortal's making him groan and close his eyes. "Now that your Doctor is back, are you going to leave again?"

The silence hung heavily between them but then Jack opened his eyes and looked straight into Ianto's, tightening the grip he had on his lover's waist. "Never," he said confident. His grip softened when he saw the expression on Ianto's face; he looked lost. "Never again as long as you're here."

After a few moments, the young man smiled before grabbing the Captain's hands from around his waist, pushing them over Jack's head and entwining their fingers together.

* * *

While pouring the coffee in the mugs to take to Tosh, Owen and Gwen, Ianto glanced towards Jack's office where he could see him talking with the Doctor. He sighed heavily remembering the kiss in the TARDIS, and how once he had got home, he couldn't sleep and had to get back to the Hub and be with Jack, to remind himself why that kiss was a mistake.

"Hey Ianto, you ok?" Gwen's voice startled the young man making him turn around. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's ok, I was distracted." He put the mugs on the tray and started to get down to the main Hub. Then, remembering Gwen's question, he turned around to face her and made himself smile. "Everything's fine. Stop worrying, ok?"

"If you're sure." She seemed so unsure in her answer, as Ianto had been.

Just as the Welshman was leaving the mug on Tosh's desk, Jack walked out of his office with the Doctor following close behind. "Ianto?" he called. "Come here when you're done, ok?"

Ianto nodded and quickly delivered the coffee before going over to the Captain. "What's going on?" he asked.

"The Doctor here would like to see what we have down in the archives and then you could take him around Cardiff. No one knows this place or the city better than you." Jack's smile was infectious and Ianto found that just as usual, he couldn't deny anything to the man.

"Sure." Then his eyes found the brown ones of the Time Lord and the blue of his own became cooler. "Whenever you're ready, Sir."

The Doctor put his hands inside the pockets of his trousers. "Is now a good moment?"

"Of course." Without waiting for the other man to follow, Ianto turned around and walked towards the archives.

Jack chuckled. "He's not at the top of his mood today. You better hurry up or you will lose him down there."

The alien nodded and started in the direction where the younger man had gone. He found him waiting right around the corner. "Do you really want to see what we've got here?" he asked loosening his tie a bit.

The Doctor's eyes followed the motion and Ianto quickly started walking again.

"Ianto, can we talk?"

"About what, Sir?" The archivist opened a door that to the Time Lord looked exactly like the other hundreds that were on both sides of the corridor, he briefly wondered how long it was before following Ianto inside the room.

"You're different," was the first thing that left his mouth as soon as he had closed the door behind him.

"It's been a while since we last seen each other, Doc." Ianto's hands shook and he dropped the papers he had picked up on the table. "You never told me what you're doing here."

The Doctor grinned. "You distracted me from answering yesterday."

"Whatever."

"So," the Time Lord started looking around the shelves with interest but still glancing back at Ianto once in a while. "You're with Jack now?"

"Like you were with Rose." And the Welshman wanted to slap himself for sounding like a jealous housewife.

"We were never… I never slept with her, Ianto." The Doctor turned around forgetting about the shelves and the artifacts. "You're in a relationship with Jack. That's different."

"Well, you dumped me so you really don't have the right to be angry or jealous. And I don't want to talk about it."

"I didn't dump you," the alien took a step closer to the man who took a step backwards distancing himself from the Time Lord.

"If your next words are going to be that you did it for my own good, I'm going to hit you and I'm not even a violent type of person."

"I know that, it's one of the many things I liked about you. That I **like **ab…"

Ianto sighed in frustration and turned his gaze on the Doctor putting his hands on his hips. "What are you doing here? And how did you know where to find me?"

"Well, the TARDIS knew exactly where you were but while I was away with Jack, he couldn't stop chattering about his team and about how amazing you were, all of you but especially **you**. So I knew where to come looking for you. Even though I'd like to have a word with you about working for Torchwood. I get that you're angry with me but working for someone that declared me their number one enemy is a bit extreme."

"I was working at Torchwood London before coming here. Did you know? I was there when you came with Rose." He shook his head and sighed. "As for Jack talking all the time about us, well, we weren't special enough for him to stay."

"Did he tell you what happened while we were away?"

Ianto shook his head. "Never.I just know that it wasn't pleasurable and I know it just because he wakes up with nightmares." His eyes studied the man in front of him for a while, he liked this new incarnation - now that he got the chance to look at him better than while running away from Cybermen - even though it wasn't the one he fell in love with.

"I am still the same," the Doctor murmured as if reading his mind before taking another step closer. "Just brand new body and I like it. What do you say?"

The young man smiled. "It's nice," he said before reminding himself that he wasn't supposed to be happy to have the man back, that he wasn't supposed to feel anything besides anger. "Anyway, I don't suppose you're going to tell me what the heck happened to Jack while he was away, am I right?"

"It's his to share."

Ianto nodded before turning his back to the older man and starting to go through the artifacts he needed to catalogue. "You can look around and I'm sure you will be able to understand what you see on your own and…"

"Does he know?" the Doctor asked tilting his head to the side and staring at the younger man.

The archivist's back stiffened. "About what?"

"About us."

"No, of course not." Ianto sighed and turned around once again facing the alien. "We met long before he met you, before Rose met you and there really wasn't a reason to tell him. When I started working here for him, he was obsessed with you, he still is, and I didn't really think that it was going to be a smart move to tell him that the man he was in love with married me on a planet in a galaxy I don't even know how far from here."

"Oh yes, the wedding," the Doctor put his hands in the pockets of his trousers and swung on the heels of his worn out Converse. "Nice day that was."

"Yeah well we aren't married here so, back to the point, I don't really get why you're here if it's not for Jack."

"You really can't guess?" the Time Lord took another step forward and softly took hold of Ianto's wrist before he could step backwards.

The archivist found himself unable to turn away from the man in front of him. "This last trip with Jack, it really was awful, wasn't it? I can see it in your eyes. You look older." He frowned remembering something. "What regeneration is this?"

"Tenth."

"So I saw three of them. Nice to know I didn't miss anything," he said with a soft smile.

The Doctor tried his best to tell himself that he shouldn't do it, shouldn't kiss Ianto, but the man's next words quickly took the decision away from him.

"If it was a good trip like in the past, like when he traveled with you and Rose…" he trailed off and sighed, "I'm sure he wouldn't have been back. I guess after being through hell, he decided that we were worth coming back but otherwise, I know that he'd still be with you God knows where."

"Ianto…" the name sounded like a plea on the Time Lord's lips. He could see in Ianto's eyes how much he had suffered from Jack's leaving and he told himself he couldn't really blame him since the two people that meant the most to him, had left him behind.

Suddenly, he found himself reaching out for the young man's face bringing him down to lock their lips together and Ianto, for the fraction of a second, was glad that there wasn't CCTV down in the Archives but just a monitor like in Jack's office.

But thinking about that made him think about the Captain, about how the older man had removed the CCTV so the others wouldn't catch them making out or shagging and how he had installed the monitor to keep an eye on the Hub and be sure no one was coming down into the archives.

Feeling guilty, Ianto found the strength of mind to put his hands on the alien's chest and pull back. "I'm going to go feed Myfanwy. If you need anything, you know where to find me." His tone went back to the cool indifference of when they had started talking and before the Doctor could say anything, Ianto walked out of the room.

He stopped around the corner that took up to the Hub and leaned against the wall taking deep breaths. "I can't keep doing this," he murmured in the darkness before walking back into the main Hub.


	3. I'll just hide it

_Thank you so much for the reviews :D there's nothing better for a writer! I hope you will like this third chapter. I was thinking of making the tale of how Ianto met the Doctor into 3 chapters so more like flashbacks than just having the Doctor telling the story. Which way would you prefer? The Doctor telling the story in one chapter or chapters with the story? I'd have about 3 chapters. One for when they met and Ianto was 16 and the Doctor was in his 8th incarnation, one for their first kiss when the Doctor was in his 9th incarnation, and one for their first time (with the Doctor still being Nine). Let me know!_

* * *

Ianto was cleaning up Owen's desk when he felt observed. Frowning, he turned around finding the doctor staring at him.

"What is it Owen?" he asked annoyed.

"You've been acting strangely lately. What's up with you?" The Londoner took a step forward, arms crossed in front of his chest and looking straight into the younger man's eyes.

"Since when do you pay attention to how do I act?"

"Since you've just been back and I have to decide if you can resume your field work."

"You always know what to answer back, don't you?"

Owen frowned. "Hey, try working with you. You're worse than Jack."

Before Ianto could say anything, they heard a deep chuckle from behind them and turned around finding the Captain with his hands deep into the pockets of his trousers smiling.

"It's not funny," Ianto said before moving away to keep cleaning.

"Owen," Jack turned his attention towards the doctor. "Everyone has already left, why don't you go too?"

"So you can shag the tea-boy?" he asked smirking, "Of course, Captain, just don't tie him up." He picked up his jacket and threw one last glance towards Ianto before leaving the Hub.

Jack waited until the sound of the cog door ended before walking over to Ianto and putting his arms around the man's waist. "What did he want?" he asked in the Welshman's ear before biting it lightly.

Ianto stepped out of the embrace and turned around to look at him. "Did you tell him to keep a close eye on me?"

"He's a doctor, Ianto, he just wants to make sure you're ok."

The young man sighed and once again resumed his cleaning. "He said I'm acting strangely and wanted to know what was up with me."

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you the same thing."

"I'm ok Jack, I just need to get back into my working routine." He stopped with an empty mug still in his hand and looked at the Captain. "Being away for two months kind of made me feel as if there's some sort of normal life out there. Add to that that on my first day back Owen won't leave me alone and you come back with the alien you left us for…" he trailed off and frowned. Thinking about the Doctor wasn't exactly what he wanted to do. "Anyway…"

Jack nodded and stepped closer again taking the mug out of Ianto's hand and putting it back down on Gwen's desk. "What do you say I help you relax?"

Ianto smiled and kissed the lips of the other man for a moment before pulling back and glancing around. "Where's the Doctor?" he asked, "I didn't see him coming up all day."

"Still down in the archives," the Immortal rolled his eyes. "I swear you two are so similar. He's just a bit crazier."

Ianto saw the fond smile on his lover's face and felt his gut twisting. '_I know that I'll have to tell him the truth and this is going to be worst than Lisa,_' he thought.

"Did he tell you what is he doing back?"

"No, just that he wanted to meet you all and that was it."

Ianto nodded before taking hold of the Captain's braces and use them to pull him closer.

"What do you say you come over for once?" he murmured against his lover lips before taking the lower lip between his teeth and biting gently. He felt Jack shudder and took a step back.

"You never ask me to come over," the Captain sounded as much surprised as elated at the thought of spending the whole night at Ianto's.

"I just thought we could use a bed that's big enough for the both of us for a change since this will be the first time we're together in two months."

"Oh, I knew you were clever Ianto Jones," he replied before taking hold of Ianto's jacket and drag him towards the door. "We'll leave a note for the Doctor in case he comes up from the archives before tomorrow," he said stopping briefly at Tosh's desk and writing on a post it that Ianto and he were going out for the night and would be back sometime tomorrow and then the two left the Hub with the SUV.

- - - - - - - - - TW- - - - - - - - - -

At first it was a distant sound that seemed part of his dream but then Ianto heard someone moving around and then Jack's soft voice saying, "What's happening?"

So Ianto cracked one eye open and turned around finding Jack with his cell phone pressed to his ear and for a moment he let his eyes follow the curve of the older man's back enlightened by the moonlight. He grinned noticing that the Captain was moving around naked.

Ianto stretched lazily under the cover and the movement caught Jack's eyes. Smiling, the Immortal sat down on the edge of the bed and holding the phone in his other hand, let the right one caress the man's cheek, then down his neck until he reached his chest.

Jack sighed and said, "Ok. Owen, I got it the first time you said it. We'll be there in a few minutes," his fingers moved back up over Ianto's lips that parted when a quite moan escaped from them. But then the moment was ruined by the Captain's huff. "Yes, minutes Owen," a pause, "yes, I have my hands on **Ianto**," the way in which the Immortal emphasized his name, made Ianto sure that the doctor had just called him "tea-boy".

Finally, the phone was shut and tossed somewhere between the nightstand and the bed.

"Don't start something you can't finish," Ianto protested grabbing Jack's wrist and pulling the older man down onto him.

The Captain leaned his head on the Welshman's shoulder and took a deep breath, inhaling Ianto's scent and the smell of sex still lingering on his skin.

"We have to go," a brief kiss was left on the shoulder and this time it was the younger man who sighed. "Owen said that Andy called Gwen because someone reported a strange creature disappearing into the sewers." Pulling himself up on his elbows, Jack looked down into Ianto's eyes and let his fingers sunk into his disheveled hair. "Maybe it's just some drunk, but…"

"We still have to check." Ianto let out a sigh and for a moment his eyes remained fixed on the ceiling before Jack's voice brought him back into the moment.

"When Tosh went home she took some sleep tablets because she really needed to rest so you will have to come with us."

"Oh, Owen is going to love this." The young man chuckled bending his neck to kiss the Captain's shoulder. "He still has to give me the all clear."

"Sometimes you two act like children." Jack smiled down at him and left the briefest of kiss on his lips before getting out of bed and dragging the reluctant Welshman with him. "C'mon, we don't even have time to shower."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "You just want to go there smelling like sex so Owen will know what we were up to and he will bitch and moan about it for hours."

Jack's only answer was a devilish grin.

- - - - - - - - - TW- - - - - - - - - -

The sound of footsteps echoed on the wall of the dark alley mixing with the sound of the pouring rain.

Tapping his earpiece, Ianto sighed. "I can't find it. It must have slip back into the sewers."

"_Ok, come back to the SUV then, Owen and I will be there in a minute_."

Ianto clicked his earpiece again and started to walk back. It was past two in the morning and they still had to catch the alien. He was with Gwen when he saw something in the shadows and started to run after it leaving the woman behind.

Suddenly, Ianto heard a scream and started to run in that direction finding Gwen in front of the alien; its long tentacles sliding dangerously on the concrete of the street.

"Gwen! Move!" Ianto's yell caught the woman by surprised making her quickly get out of his way.

Ianto aimed his gun at the alien's head but before he could shoot, one of its tentacles sprang towards him passing right through his left shoulder. The pain was worse than a gunshot wound and Ianto crumpled to the ground barely registering the gun fire that took down the alien.

He heard Gwen shouting, "Hurry up he's bleeding!" and then he felt as if time had started moving slowly. His shoulder was hurting and he was starting to feel too tired to keep breathing.

Before he could slip into unconsciousness, he heard footsteps getting closer and then someone kneeling beside him. Cracking one eye open and trying to focus, he found Owen hovering above him pressing down on his shoulder.

"Shit! Ianto?" he sounded so very scared to Ianto that if it wasn't for the fact that he was probably bleeding to death, he could have laughed. "Hey mate, it looks worst than it is," the doctor said trying to find a more controlled voice.

The young Welshman wanted to laugh but found himself coughing instead. "You… you sound… s… scared," he finally managed to say. His eyes fixed up towards the sky feeling the raindrops falling heavily on his face, making his eyes sting.

He felt a cold hand on his cheek and focused back on the doctor. "I'm never scared and this is barely a scratch. Where the hell is Jack with the bloody SUV" the Londoner asked more to himself than to anyone in particular.

Ianto wanted to ask if it was just a scratch, then why was he pressing down so hard on the wound? But he was starting to feel more and more tired by the second and keeping focus of what was happening around him was getting harder.

"Hurry up, Harkness!" Owen hissed while increasing the pressure on his friend's wound.

"Owen, is he going to be ok?"

Gwen's panicked voice made the doctor snap. "I don't know Gwen. I don't fucking know!"

"The… the tentacle of the alien pierced through his shoulder. God it happened so fast. I was scared because I didn't see the alien coming and then Ianto arrived and he saved me but…" she trailed off crying.

The screeching of the brakes of the SUV made them both look up. The SUV rounded the corner and came to a halt in front of them; Jack was out in a second.

"What happened?"

"We have to take him away from under the rain," Owen said quickly without answering the Captain's question. "Jack, help me pick him up, we have to take him back to the Hub. Gwen," he said turning around to face the woman. "You will drive. C'mon!"

The doctor picked up Ianto from under his arms while Jack grabbed his feet. Gwen opened the door to the backseat of the SUV for them and as soon as Ianto was laid down, she got in behind the wheel.

"Drive as fast as you can," Owen said before glancing down at Ianto and feeling the panic surge inside him again. "He's lost consciousness."

- - - - - - - - - TW- - - - - - - - - -

At the same time Jack wanted to move to Ianto and to keep away, as if seeing the pale body laid on the autopsy bay just from afar wouldn't make everything real, as if stepping closer and touching the hot skin will meant that Ianto was really dying.

He sighed and took a step forwards and then another until he was standing right beside him. He grabbed Owen's stool and dragged it next to the table. It had been half an hour since they had got back and Owen was still trying to find something that would tell them how to stop the fever from getting higher or the poison from spreading through his body.

It felt absurd to the Immortal, thinking that just a couple of hours before they were in Ianto's bedroom having hot sex and kissing languidly.

"What happened to him?"

Jack looked up from Ianto's white face startled. "I was wondering where you had disappeared to."

"I heard you coming back but I could feel that something was wrong and didn't want to be in your way." The Doctor sighed and took a step forward. "What happened to him?" he asked again.

Jack diverted his eyes from the Time Lord and ran his fingers through Ianto's hair. "Gwen was being attacked by an alien and Ianto saved her. Its tentacle stabbed him in the shoulder and we don't know what to do now. Owen managed to stop the hemorrhage, but it looks like there was some sort of virus on the tentacle that is now spreading throughout his body," he sighed again and looked up. "We're trying to find an antidote."

"He should have been safer," the Doctor quietly said, the '_than with me_' was left unsaid.

Jack frowned, "What do…" he trailed off when the hand he was holding tightened his grip around his. He looked down. "Ianto?"

"Happened again..." the young man whispered. The Doctor stepped closer and took Ianto's other hand.

The Captain was confused at the '_again'_.

"What happened again?" The Time Lord asked quietly ignoring the way in which Jack was looking at the unusual display of affection that he was showing towards Ianto.

"I got ill," Ianto murmured. "No Barcelona."

Jack's eyes widened seeing the little smile that curved the thin lips of the Doctor and hearing his quiet reply.

"Don't worry, sooner or later the TARDIS will find the right way and we will get there."

"Promise?"

"Sure," the Doctor sighed and made to drop the hand he was holding but Ianto tightened his grip. "You're sick now and should rest."

"My Doctor," the Welshman breathed out softly before going back to sleep.

"He… he was hallucinating," the Time Lord said glancing at Jack and reading anger on his face. "He…"

"He knew who you were, Doctor," he hissed. "He may be hallucinating because of his fever, but he thought he was with you."

"Ja…"

"Exactly what are you doing back here in Cardiff?"

"I can explain, Jack, if you'd just let me explain."

"Step away from him," the Captain said angrily. "Step away right now!" he hissed when the Doctor made no move to let Ianto's hand down. "And start talking!" he finally demanded.


	4. This Time That We Waste

I'm so sorry for the long wait! Go read the interlued "During the Earthquake" if you like. I hope you enjoy this 4th chapter and please, please, please, review! Thank you!

* * *

**Lover Dearest - Chapter 4 - This Time That We Waste  
**

Jack pushed the Doctor down on the chair across from his desk. "Start talking!" he hissed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

The Time Lord frowned, looking straight into the cold eyes of the Immortal. "It's not like this is your business, Jack."

"It is!" he yelled, closing his hands into tight fists in order to stop himself from hitting the other man. "You came back to take him, didn't you?"

"If you, for one moment, think that anyone can _make_ Ianto Jones do something he doesn't want to, then you don't know him at all." The Doctor looked away from the Captain's face and glanced towards the med bay. "Can't we do this later? I want to be..."

"You're not going near him," Jack cut him off.

"You can't exactly lock me up, Jack."

"Don't try me," the Immortal hissed through clenched teeth. "I'm going to ask you some questions and you're going to answer me."

"Why?" The Time Lord got up from the chair and looked sternly at the other man. "You think that when he wakes up and finds out that you've tortured me, he's going to want to stay?"

Jack laughed humorlessly. "What? Now you're going to use him as a guarantee of your welfare?"

The Doctor glared at him and the Captain could see that resolute expression that reminded him of how formidable the Time Lord could be.

"You want to keep me away from him, send me away, kill me or whatever," he waved his hand up in the air dismissively. "And all that without asking him anything. I want him back, Jack, but I'm not going to steal him away from you or Torchwood. I respect him way more than that." He took a couple of deep breaths and then sat back down in the chair. "Let me see the body of the creature that hurt him so I can save him. Then we can talk all you want; in fact, I suspect that Ianto would very much prefer to be the one telling the truth."

Jack wanted to laugh at that. "You think? He's the greatest secret-keeper I know. He lied to me for a year, was ready to have sex with me just to have this job so he could save his half-converted girlfriend. He wished me dead, and is responsible for the death of two innocent people. He's not the little angel you think he is."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the Captain felt sick at himself. How could he say those things? They were true, but he didn't want to use them against Ianto. Ianto who in the last year had done everything to win back his trust, the team's trust... Except that now it looked as if he had been lying all the time.

"If you didn't come back, if he didn't get himself hurt to save Gwen, he would never have told me about you," he replied after a few moments of silence. His tone held no questions, just the knowledge that Ianto never revealed his true self.

The Doctor - who had looked away at those revelations - glanced up at the Captain at the sad tone in his voice. Maybe Jack did care after all, but the Time Lord was selfish sometimes and, right now, he wanted Ianto back.

"Looks like he's changed more than just his clothes," he quietly said while thinking,_ A cyberman? Really, Ianto? Haven't I taught you anything?_

"This is the Ianto I know," Jack said quietly. The anger that he had felt towards the Doctor only moments before was slowly fading away as it had when he had found out about Lisa. He was hurt and disappointed but even whilst pointing his gun at Ianto, he had known that he'd never pull the trigger. There were exceptions to the rules; he was the exception to death, Ianto to both his and the Doctor's ideals just as Rose had been, and the Doctor was one of a kind.

"I can tell you everything I know, how we got together and why we're not anymore, but I can't do it right now. I have to save him, Jack."

The Captain sighed and then nodded. "Find Owen. He will show you the body of the alien." He turned around then, grabbed his coat from the hanger, shrugged it on. With a final glance at the Doctor he left the Hub.

Gwen looked up worriedly from her seat at her workstation and exchanged a glance with Tosh who shrugged. When the Doctor came out of Jack's office, she rose from her chair and stopped him mid-way to the Med Bay. "What's going on?"

"Ask Jack," the Time Lord replied glancing around. "Where is Dr. Harper?"

"Why did Jack leave?" Gwen asked, ignoring the alien's question.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes and looked at Toshiko. "I need to see Dr. Harper."

"Owen is down in the morgue with the body of the creature that attached Ian to. I imagine that you want to see it and try to save Ianto?"

"Yes. Would you mind taking me down to him?"

The woman shook her head and stood up from her chair. "Follow me," she said, heading towards the staircase that led to the lower levels.

Gwen sighed, watching them go while quickly grabbing her jacket and hurrying out of the Hub, hoping to find Jack.

-Torchwood-

Ianto felt cold and sweaty at the same time and his head hurt like when the Aghartians had chased him and the Doctor while they were on what Ianto had called their 'honeymoon' and the Time Lord had said, '_another stupid thing you silly ape do_'.

In his fever induced sleep, the young man smiled, remembering when he had asked the Doctor for a safe place where there would be no running and weapons aimed at their heads. It never worked.

Ianto tried to open his eyes and look where he was, but his eyelids felt heavy and every part of his body hurt; he just hoped that Gwen was alright.

-Torchwood-

Owen was elbow-deep in alien guts. "Bloody hell," he mumbled. Glancing at the clock hanging on the wall behind him, he noticed that he had been searching for something in the creature's corpse for two hours now, and he still had no idea on how to extract an antidote to help the tea-boy.

"You won't find anything in there."

The haughty voice pulled the doctor out of his thoughts. When he looked up towards the stairs, he found Jack's alien friend looking at him. He squirmed a little under the scrutiny of the Time Lord; he was feeling like a moron under that gaze.

"Well," he started when he had ratcheted up his self-esteem enough. "Why don't you find something that works then? Tosh says that you're supposed to know everything."

"I do know everything," the alien put his hands in his trouser pockets. "That particular alien species is highly poisonous, and there's no antidote that you can take from its glands. I needed to see the corpse in order to know what kind of antidote I need to fetch." With no intention to add another word, the Time Lord turned around and started to ascend the stairs once again.

"Wait up, mate!" Owen hurried over to the alien. "I know that you could probably turn me into dust using that shining thing you carry around, but I need to ask if you're sure you know what you're doing."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes and his gaze turned icy. "I don't go around disintegrating people, Dr. Harper, and I don't jump to conclusions without knowing what I'm talking about. I know what that creature is and I know where to find what is going to save Ianto Jones. I'm a Time Lord and we know everything."

The Londoner had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "I get it, you're never wrong. Just..." he trailed off and huffed. "Get back here in time. I don't like losing my patients."

Without further ado the Doctor turned around and left. He crossed the Hub with long strides and by the time he had reached the tourist office he was practically running. He hurried inside the TARDIS and frantically started to push buttons and levers. He had to save Ianto at all costs.

-Torchwood-

For the first time in a long while, Ianto found his mind wandering to the memories of his life with the Doctor that he had tried so long to bury in his subconscious. He felt a warm hand slip in his. He felt like it was wrong to hold that hand while his mind went back to that first day in the TARDIS. He tried to speak but was starting to feel all his strength abandoning him. Nevertheless, he mumbled something that he knew was probably unintelligible and tried to free his hand. He felt the hold around him loosen and sighed contentedly. Ianto squeezed his eyes and suddenly, he was back in that alley in London.

**London - 26 November - 1999**

_He was only sixteen after all so it was no wonder that curiosity got the better of him. Ianto looked up and down the alley and then walked over to the blue box; he studied it for a moment wondering what a police phone box was doing in a dirty alley, in 1999 and above all, what a man dressed as if he were from the 19th century was doing inside it. He tried to open the door but found it locked so, glancing behind him again to make sure that no one was around, he slid his hand into the back pocket of his jeans and retrieved what he'd need in order to pick the lock. _

_He glanced once more over his shoulder and then put the clip and the little screwdriver into the lock and started to work them. He was surprised when after only a couple of seconds, not only did the lock click, but the wooden door swung open. _

_"This is strange," he muttered under his breath before taking a step inside the box. The sight that greeted him made him speechless. It was bigger, way bigger than a police phone box should have been. _

_The interior of the box was bathed in a dark blue light and at the centre of it there was a control panel surrounding a big luminescent transparent column with four metal towers around it bending over toward the centre; the walls were made of what looked like marble and on either side were two statues holding torches_

_"What the hell?" he asked out loud looking around, taking in the wooden floor, the candles and the big sitting room on his left with the largest library Ianto had ever seen in his life. _

_The young Welshman descended the three steps before him and walked over to the console. Ianto noticed what seemed to be a wooden calendar with the date November 26. Then he looked up to find what looked like a television where in bright white letters he could read _London, Planet Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy_. _

_When his hand touched the console, the blue light in the transparent column shone brightly for a moment but before the boy could place his fingertips against the glass, he heard the door cracking open. For just the briefest of moments he was rooted to the spot, unsure what to do, but then he started running without looking where he was going. He went past the library and down a corridor until he finally found a door rather than just open space and quickly hid there. _

_The Doctor let himself inside the TARDIS and walked over to the console. "It's been a tiring day," he quietly said. "How come each time I want to have a nice day something happens?" _

_He shook his head and put his hands on the console sighing a little. "Well, where to now?" Gently, he pulled a lever saying, "You choose this time. I don't want anything dangerous." _

_Then he turned around walking towards the sitting room and sinking in the armchair taking the book from the table nearby to resume his reading from where he had last stopped._


End file.
